Alicante Pride
by The Purple Warlock
Summary: Because it is Pride month, I had this idea that Magnus introduces all the LGBTQ characters from 'The Mortal Instruments' and 'The Dark Artifices' to Pride, by taking them to a Pride March. They all love the experience and decide that Alicante needs one to help the stigma that surrounds being LGBTQ within the Shadowhunter world. Having never been to a Pride event, I had to rely on m


**Because it is Pride month, I had this idea that Magnus introduces all the LGBTQ characters from 'The Mortal Instruments' and 'The Dark Artifices' to Pride, by taking them to a Pride March. They all love the experience and decide that Alicante needs one to help the stigma that surrounds being LGBTQ within the Shadowhunter world. Having never been to a Pride event, I had to rely on my limited knowledge, so if I have gotten anything wrong, I really am sorry and it was not my intention. If this is the case, that I have made an error, do let me know so I can fix it.**

 **The entire story is told in the P.O.V of Magnus Bane.**

 **I hope you all like the story. Let me know your thoughts in the reviews!**

 **I own nothing but the plot.**

I've never made it a secret I've considered myself a freewheeling Bisexual. Because of that, and the fact I'm a four hundred year old Warlock, I've been to a variety of Pride events all over the world. My favourite has always been the Pride March in New York, meaning that since I've lived in the city, I haven't missed a single one. Soon after I started dating Alec, I realised he had never been to a single Pride event, partly because he had only recently made his peace with his sexuality, and partly because the topic of being 'LGBTQ' was such a taboo within the Shadowhunter world, many Shadowhunters hide their sexuality and were never able to find out about Pride. Something I thought was a social injustice.

The first Pride march that happened after Alec and I got together, I made sure we went to it. Much to my surprise, Alec allowed me to paint a small rainbow on his cheek, and put some glitter on his face ("Only a little bit Magnus" he'd insisted, and not wanting to push my luck, I obliged). Izzy and Jace had demanded photos, which I of course supplied. Izzy was so proud of Alec, and made sure he knew it. Jace on the other hand found the whole thing hilarious. It wasn't until I threatened to use the glitter I hadn't put on Alec on Jace did he stop laughing.

We were about to leave when Maryse and Robert surprised us both by turning up at the loft. Maryse had been quicker to accept Alec than Robert, but there still been a bit of awkwardness. Saying that. Robert was defiantly making up for it now. Maryse had taken one look at Alec and had wrapped her arms round him, saying how proud she was of him, and how she hoped he enjoyed the day, because "by the angel Alec you deserve it". Robert had hung back. It had taken a long time for Robert to both accept Alec's sexuality and accept the fact his son was dating me (who just so happened to be a Downworlder), but his guilt at not accepting Alec (and his parabatai Michael, who had been a bisexual and had fallen in love with Robert) and his pride of Alec's actions during the mortal war had made efforts to both accept Alec and change his views on homosexuality. He had made progress, but still had a lot of work to do.

Once Maryse had released her son, she made a bee line for me, hugged me and thanked me for helping Alec, and being good to him. Robert awkwardly shuffled towards his son (both Maryse and I had turned to watch the pair) and, rather than hug him as Maryse had, shook his hand. "I'm sorry for not accepting you sooner. I just want you to know just how proud I am. You're a bigger than man than I will ever be" he said, and nodded. Alec seemed to be in a slight state of shock at his father's words, but managed to get a "Thank you" out. They left soon after that, leaving Alec and I trying to get our heads round what had happened. "You OK?" I asked, slipping my hand into his. Alec nodded then said "yeah, just a little surprised that's all. They wouldn't have done that a year ago, but I'm not going to let that bother me. Today is going to be a good day" and I had to agree. Grabbing a couple of pride flags (I'd gotten the rainbow flag for Alec, and the bisexual one for me) we left to go to Alec's first Pride march.

It was adorable watching Alec take in all the colour, craziness and love that happened at a Pride march. His face had lit up when he first caught sight of all the rainbow flags and weird costumes that some people wore, and it lasted the entire day. He'd leant closer to me (it was loud and it was a struggle to hear sometimes) and went "I love it, being surrounded by my own kind" which made me smile. Sure, Alec was a Shadowhunter, and had grown up surrounded by other Shadowhunter, but he had spent eighteen years of his life as a closeted gay, haven only recently come out. He was one of a small minority who were open about their sexuality, meaning that the chances of finding an LGBTQ Shadowhunter (well one you knew were LGBTQ) were slim. This was the first time he had been so surrounded by people as openly gay as he was. I felt like that in itself was a victory.

That night, Alec couldn't stop talking about it, and seemed to be on a one man mission to help others accept their gender and sexuality. "Other people need to be with the person they love Magnus, regardless of their gender or sexuality, and need to feel the joy I felt today. I can't believe I went so long hiding who I was, and missing out on that. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure people feel comfortable being who they are, and don't spend as long as I did hiding" he declared, and it was that moment I found myself jumping on the "proud of Alec" party bus. Today had been more of a success than I could have ever imagined. Not only had Alec loved Pride as much as I did, but he wanted other people to share the love that came not only during a Pride March, but the entire Pride month. I knew without really thinking about it, I was going to help him on his mission.

***4 year later***

Since Alec's first Pride March, we hadn't missed a single one. Max and Rafe would stay with Maryse for the day (she'd insisted we went and celebrate who we were. To be honest, I think she just wanted an excuse to spend the day with her grandsons, but as everyone was a winner in the situation, no one complained). Alec had managed to help a few people accept their sexuality, and go to the Pride events in their own cities, but this year would see his biggest success. We were visiting the Los. Angeles Institute to see how the Blackthorns and company were coping. They had had a rough few months (and that was putting it mildly) but things seemed to be on the mend. Their sister Helen, and wife had been returned to them, as had the Unseelie prince Kieran (I'm not sure at this point where he and Mark stood in terms of their relationship). Kit had accepted his true nature as a Shadowhunter, and had officially changed his surname to Herondale (although he responded to being called Christopher, and would often introduce himself as such, he still was predominantly Kit to all those who knew him).

"So what's coming up in the lives of Magnus and Alec?" Emma had asked, by way of starting a conversation. Alec grinned, and went "well, Magnus and I are going to the New York Pride March in a couple of weeks" which caused a serious of confused faces around the table (we were eating dinner at this point). Ty, who always liked gaining new information leant forward and asked "what's a Pride march?" Alec seemed to be in his element. "Pride is for LGBT people to take a stand against homophobic prejudice and discrimination. It's a celebration of the rights we've gained, our visibility and self-acceptance but it's also an acknowledgement of how much further we still need to go. There's an entire Pride month, and a lot of the major cities around the world have Pride Marches and Parades" Alec said.

There was a slight pause as Alec let what he said sink in, then added "a Pride March is full of people who just want to celebrate either their sexuality or gender, and in some cases both. It's so full of colour, music and just love and acceptance." What happened next neither Alec nor I could have expected, saying that, it was still incredible. Helen turned to Aline and went "I wouldn't mind going" which caused Aline to take her hand and responded "you know I'll go where you go". Mark then joined the conversation by going "I too will join you sister" which made Helen's smile bigger. Kieran, much to everyone surprise went "I go where Mark goes". So that was four people who, despite not knowing what a Pride March was ten minutes earlier, had decided they wanted to be a part of it. There was a slight pause when Kit went "I've wanted to go to a Pride March since I started questioning my sexuality but never had the opportunity to go. Now the chance has come up, I'm defiantly in." Having heard Kit decide to go, Ty said softly, "I'll go if Kit goes, but only because I feel safe with him and know he will look after me" which caused Kit to take his hand, and promised him he wouldn't leave his side.

The biggest surprise of all came from Diana, who just went "well if you lot are going, I may as well go" which shut everyone up. Ty being Ty went "it's ok Diana, Helen, Aline, Magnus and Alec are going to be there, we'll be looked after" which everyone else confirmed. Looking at Diana, she seemed to be gathering her courage to do something, and I had a gut feeling there was more to this than Diana was initially letting on. "I know that. I'm not going to look after you…I'm going as a transgender woman" and after that, you could hear a pin drop. Until that point, none of us and even had reason to suspect Diana had ever been anything but a woman, but I had a feeling the others round the table fully knew what that meant.

"With all due respect Diana, I don't really know what you just told us" Jules said, speaking for the rest of his family. Like I said, 'LGBT' was still a fairly taboo subject and wasn't discussed. Saying that, I only really understood the term 'transgender' and all that was involved with it through my friendship with Caterina. Diana took a deep breath and started talking. "It means I was born a boy, by the name of David Laurence Wrayburn, but I always knew I was a girl. My sister and parents knew, and they let me be a girl in the house under the condition I was David in public. It was when I was eighteen, I joined my sister In Thailand and we travelled. It was there I could be 'Diana' the girl I knew I was all the time. It was after a revenant attack, when my sister and I got badly injured, did I learn the truth of who I was. Caterina had tended to us, and she had seen my body and realised the truth. My sister died as a result of that attack, and my parents claimed it had been David who had died. During my recovery, Caterina told me what I was: Transgender. Someone who was born in one body but felt like they should have been born in the other. She helped me transition into this body over three years" she said and then finished talking. Without saying anything Emma got up and hugged Diana tightly saying "I'm so sorry, we all are" which was followed by nods and words of agreement from the others.

We spent the rest of the meal and evening planning. All of those who had decided they wanted to take part in the Pride March were going to be joining Alec and me in New York for that march. We'd told them what to expect, and the more they heard, the more excited they got. Kit, Mark, Helen and Aline had all jumped at the idea at face paint and glitter, but the others had needed some more encouragement. Diana had put herself in charge of getting flags for everyone. By the time it was ready for us to return to New York, both Alec and I were full of excitement. We had managed to get seven people to join us, and hopefully allow them to become more proud and more accepting of who they were.

When the day came, I opened a portal to Los Angeles, and allowed Helen, Aline, Mark, Kieran, Kit, Ty and Diana to all come through. The next hour was full of glitter, face paint, photos and flags. Once we were ready (and glamoured to hide any trace of runes, pointed ears and Warlock marks) we left. Our L.A group's first reaction had been the same as Alec's, the first time I took him to Pride. Ty did have his headphones on for parts of it, but Kit had taken his hand, and would rub his thumb over Ty's knuckles which calmed him down. Wanting to make this as enjoyable as possible for everyone, we never forced anyone to do anything they didn't feel comfortable.

When we finally returned to the loft, you could feel the positivity radiating off everyone. "It's a shame Alicante doesn't have a Pride March, I think it would make LGBTQ less of a taboo, and reduce the stigma" Kit said. Alec then looked at him in surprise and went "by the angel, why haven't I had that idea?" which made Kits grin get bigger. I have a feeling Kit wasn't always told when he had had a good idea. Aline then looked at Alec and went "I reckon we have a good chance of making that happen you know. My mums the Consul and your Dad is the inquisitor. Not to mention your social group essentially won us the Mortal War. People listen to you." Once she was finished talking, I don't think there was any doubt in anyone's mind about what where going to do: We were going to give Alicante the Pride March the LGBTQ Shadowhunters and Downworlders needed and deserved.

I sent a fire message to Jules to tell him not to panic, but his family were going to be spending the night here in New York. We spent most of the night creating a 'battle plan' on how we were going to get a Pride March to Alicante. It included why the city needed one, the aspects we all decided needed to be incorporated, and who we needed to talk to. By the time we were finished, we were exhausted, and all ended up crashed out on various chairs and beds (with some people sleeping on the floor). Once we work up, we decided who was going to be doing what, and when that job needed to be done by. Once everything had been decided, we went our separate ways.

Whilst we were at the Institute collecting Max and Rafe, we spoke to Jace, Clary, Izzy, Simon, Maryse and Robert (Robert needed to do some work in New York so was staying at the Institute) and got them all on board, which was great. They made sure agreed to keep them up-to-date with the process and to let them know if there was anything they could do to help, which we did. On our return, we received a fire message from Aline to say her mum was on board. Having recruited the people we needed to, we had given ourselves a morale boost, and the motivation to really move our campaign forward. It took several months, but we were able to do it.

***The day of the Pride March***

The day of the first Pride March in Alicante was a day of mixed, heightened emotions. I (as well as everyone who had fought so hard to get here) were excited for the day as we had all experienced a Pride March and wanted people to share in the experience, nervous as we had no idea how it would turn out and just relief that the day itself was here. It seemed set to be a really good day. The weather was glorious and everyone seemed to be in a really good mood. On entering the city centre I was surprised at how busy it was. Alec and I were really early, and yet the square was full of Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike, all holding LGBTQ flags and banners (from some of the banners I realised that there was a large numbers of supporters, people who considered themselves straight but supported those who were LGBTQ). I was impressed with the efforts people had gone to for the event.

I was brought out of my thoughts when an overly excited Aline ran over and hugged me (she was being flanked by Helen, Mark and Kieran) and was saying "we did it guys we did it. We brought Pride to Alicante!" which made me grin, and nod in agreement. "That we did" was all I was able to say. By the time the March started, there we so many people involved, more than I could have possibly have imagined. It was an incredible sight to behold and it made me realise: The Shadowhunters might be stubborn and cling to tradition and outdated thoughts, but that didn't mean they were incapable of change.

Near the end, I made my way over to talk to Kit. "You should be proud of yourself young Herondale. This was all your idea" I said. Kit grinned, then added "yeah, but it wouldn't have happened had we not all worked together" which made me laugh. "I never thought I would live to see a day in which a Herondale was modest" which caused Kit to retaliate by pulling a dramatic pose, and going "you are right Magnus, it was all me, I deserve to be celebrated. Come Ty, I need to find the perfect spot for a statue of me." Taking Ty's hand, they disappeared into the crowd. Today could not have gone any better, and I decided that the Alicante Pride March was my new favourite Pride event.


End file.
